The present invention relates to a lateral training apparatus and method for training persons such as trainees, athletes and others to improve various motor skills. More particularly, it relates to a lateral training apparatus and method for providing forces of either constant or varying magnitude opposing the motion of a single or multiple points on the body of a trainee while performing slow or high speed movements.
Physical training and conditioning have long been recognized as desirable for improving various motor skills to improve the performance of an athlete, the rehabilitation of a physical therapy patient, or the overall physical well-being of the trainee. Training with resistance while performing specific movements with the body has been found to be very effective in improving various physical abilities such as functional strength, running speed, first-step quickness, jumping ability, and kicking ability. Such resistance training is increasingly becoming favored over training with heavy weights using slow non-sports specific motions.
For example, if an athlete wants to run faster it has been found to be more beneficial to apply light resistance to the leg muscles while running than by performing a press with the legs with heavy weights. Both of these training methods will strengthen the leg muscles of the athlete, however, the high-speed training by providing light resistance while running allows the athlete to generate more power at high speeds since the muscle is conditioned with resistance at high speeds. Training the muscles using slow movement with resistance promotes power generation at slow speeds since the muscle is conditioned at slow speeds. Both training methods are important to most athletes. For athletic performance optimization at high speeds, however, the muscles must be physically and neurologically trained at high speeds. The term “training vector” as used herein shall mean a force opposing the motion of a portion of a trainee through a predetermined range of motion. The magnitude and direction of a training vector may be relatively constant or may vary through a predetermined range of motion.
Many sports related movements involve multiple muscle groups moving multiple body parts simultaneously to perform the specific movement. For example, when an athlete jumps he or she uses the legs, back and arms simultaneously. To optimize training for a particular movement it is beneficial to train using a natural jumping motion while applying resistance to the legs, back and arms simultaneously. Such an exercise method would be more effective than methods where resistance is only applied to the legs because it allows major muscle groups used in jumping to be fired in the proper neurological sequence with applied resistance.
Further, it has been discovered that exercise methods applying resistance during sports specific motions and speeds provide an effective and highly efficient means to develop power and motor reflexes in the human body thereby conditioning the body to perform the specific motions more effectively and quickly. Since high speed resistive training generally requires an athlete to accelerate and decelerate at high speeds, light-weight elastic members may be preferable to supply appropriate resistance. Elastic members provide little mass and may be attached to and allow a trainee such as an athlete to quickly accelerate and/or decelerate against a training or force vector possessing a magnitude that changes little regardless of the speed at which the trainee is accelerating or decelerating. Training resistance generated by a weighted means as opposed to elastic members is undesirable as weights provide inertia and therefore require significantly more force to accelerate and decelerate. For example, the energy required to accelerate a ten pound weight in a human hand at 10 m/s is more than one-hundred times more than the energy required to accelerate the distal end of a twenty foot elastic member at 10 m/s attached to a human hand applying ten pounds of force. In embodiments of the present subject matter, no energy is required to decelerate the distal end of the same elastic band moving at 10 m/s; conversely, considerable force would be required to decelerate the ten pound weight moving at 10 m/s. Thus, the high resistance to mass ratio of exemplary elastic members makes associated exercise apparatuses an ideal means to apply training vectors to trainees who are desirous of conducting high speed resistance training.
High speed athletic movements during competition are performed against gravity and an athlete's own mass (accelerating or decelerating body and limbs). A trainee's mass and gravity do not change when the trainee is attempting to accelerate or decelerate on a field of play. Thus, the resistance a trainee feels when attempting to accelerate or decelerate on the field of play does not change as the trainee works to accelerate or decelerate. It is therefore paramount in an exercise apparatus that when a trainee conducts high speed resistance training, the resistance also remains relatively constant through the acceleration and deceleration phase of the athletic movement or exercise. In contrast, if applied training resistance varies rapidly during the acceleration and deceleration phases of the athletic movement or exercise, the trainee's balance and ability to maintain a sports specific exercise movement will be severely disrupted because the rapidly varying resistance simulates a change in mass and/or gravity during the movement. This shortcoming of the prior art is unnatural, and humans are not inherently trained or bio-mechanically designed to deal with such variances when training at high speeds.
The advantageous physical characteristics of elastic members coupled with the need to apply relatively constant resistance for high speed training through a longer distance has lead to the widespread use of long elastic members (e.g., 4 to 30+ feet) for sports specific speed training and power resistance training. Further, the longer an elastic member, the farther an athlete may stretch the member before the member's resistance to stretching increases (generally at an exponential rate). For example, if an athlete extends a 4 foot elastic member to 8 feet, the resistance measured when the member reaches 8 feet will likely increase 200 or 300 percent relative to the resistance measured at 4 feet just as the member was tightened. If, however, an athlete extends a 50 foot elastic member 4 additional feet to 54 feet, then the additional 4 foot length represents a small fraction of the total relaxed member length, and the resistance measured at 54 feet will be a few percent greater than at 50 feet.
The implementation of long elastic members to provide constant resistance for high speed sports specific training in the prior art, however, is generally both functionally and spatially inefficient. For example, when a long elastic member is anchored at one end and attached to a trainee on the distal end, the trainee must walk away from the anchor point until the elastic band becomes taut and then walk further away stretching the elastic member until the trainee feels the desired applied resistance. The trainee may then perform the desired sports training movement. This deficiency in the prior art creates the following four problems.
(1) In the prior art, a large exercise space is generally required to accommodate the long elastic member. FIG. 1 is a side view of a prior art exercise apparatus with a trainee in various positions showing a restraining means providing a specified resistance with reference to the trainee. With reference to FIG. 1, in Phase 1 a trainee using a 25 foot elastic member attached to his or her waist has no load applied to their body when less than 25 feet from an anchor point “A.” In Phase 2 of FIG. 1, the trainee must move 25 feet away from the anchor point before the slack is removed from the member and any resistance is felt by the trainee. In Phase 3 of FIG. 1, the trainee must move an additional 5 feet (in this example) away from the anchor point to stretch the member and set/create a desired starting resistance for the exercise. In Phase 4 of FIG. 1, the trainee then performs a desired exercise movement moving another 15 feet from the anchor point plus an additional 5 feet to decelerate. Thus, in the prior art the required exercise space for this example is approximately 45 feet. Embodiments of the present subject matter, however, eliminate the spatial requirements of the prior art illustrated in Phases 1 through 3 of FIG. 1.
(2) In the prior art, when attaching the ends of a fixed length elastic member to a trainee and anchor point, training resistance cannot be set independent of the spatial relationship between the trainee and anchor point. With reference to FIG. 2, if a trainee desires to increase the applied resistance by an elastic member 1 to his hand at a point A from 5 pounds to 8 pounds, the trainee must move from 10 feet to 14 feet away from anchor point B. This will stretch the elastic member 1 an additional 4 feet thereby increasing the resistance as the member is stretched the additional length. This has two distinct disadvantages. First, if a trainee desires more resistance at the start of the exercise, the trainee would need more space to move away from the anchor point to stretch the member and increase resistance. Second, the force vector acting on the hand of the trainee by the elastic member 1 is different at 10 and 14 feet. Therefore, the angle of the force vector acting on the body given a fixed anchor point will change as the trainee changes his position relative to the anchor point. This deleterious effect in the prior art is obviated by embodiments of the present subject matter.
(3) In the prior art, elongated elastic members make it difficult to apply a desired force or training vector to a trainee throughout the full range of an exercise or complex sports specific movement.
(4) In the prior art, attempting to maintain independent control of applied resistance from multiple force or training vectors generated by utilizing multiple elastic members is difficult as the resistance of all members is increased through the movement of a trainee away from the anchor point. FIG. 3 provides a pictorial illustration of this limitation of the prior art. In the prior art, if the trainee wants to increase the resistance applied to the hand by an elastic member 1 at Position 1 while being satisfied with the resistance applied to the waist by another elastic member 2 at Position 1, the trainee would have to move further away from the anchor point B of the elastic member 1 to Position 2. This movement to Position 2 would additionally stretch the other elastic member 2 thereby applying more resistance to the waist when additional resistance to the waist was not desired. Again, this undesirable effect in the prior art is obviated by embodiments of the present subject matter.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,968,028 and 4,863,163 entitled “Vertical Jump Exercise Apparatus” issued to the inventor of the present subject matter each disclose resistance training apparatus for vertical jump training and conditioning. The prior art system disclosed in the Wehrell patents illustrated in FIGS. 4 through 9, applies two training vectors having relatively constant magnitude to the hips of the trainee (see FIGS. 4 through 7 showing training vectors 1A and 2A) for applying resistance to the legs while performing a jumping motion.
A later modification of the exercise apparatus disclosed in the Wehrell patents is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. In this embodiment, the training vectors 1B and 2B provide relatively constant resistance to the back of the knees of a trainee performing a running motion by attaching the elastic members of the exercise apparatus to detachable leg harnesses 1 worn by the trainee. This embodiment provided resistance for training the hip flexors of the trainee at high speeds.
There is, however, a need in the art to implement more complex high speed training configurations where resistance is applied to multiple body parts simultaneously. There is also a need in the art to attach or apply multiple lateral resistance vectors to a trainee while allowing: (1) the resistance of each elastic member to be set independently of one another without regard to the spatial relationship between the trainee and the respective elastic member anchor points; (2) an ability to easily manipulate the anchor point of each elastic member in more than one dimension to thereby control the direction of the applied resistance or training vector when the elastic member is attached to a trainee; (3) an ability to set a desired resistance applied to a trainee in close proximity (e.g., one foot or less) to the exercise apparatus or to a trainee at a considerable distance from the apparatus; (4) an ability to simultaneously provide multiple (e.g., 2 to 8 or more) training vectors with an upward and/or downward resistance component, each of which may provide the abilities enumerated in (1) through (3) above.
Therefore, one embodiment of the present subject matter provides one or more resistance training vectors to one or more trainees simultaneously. Another embodiment of the present subject matter provides multiple resistance members routed through mechanical mechanisms enabling the resistance members to be contained within the respective exercise apparatus and provide a substantial effective length.
Further embodiments of the present subject matter provide a lateral training apparatus and method for applying training vectors to the hands, thighs and other portions of a trainee's body for providing resistance to multiple muscle groups while performing complex sports specific movements.
One embodiment of the present subject matter provides a lateral training apparatus comprising a vertically oriented base and a means for providing a plurality of training vectors to one or more selected portions of a trainee. The training vectors may provide a relatively constant or varying force to the portion of the trainee through a predetermined range of motion and within a predetermined training area the magnitude of the force is substantially independent of the distance between the trainee and apparatus.
Another embodiment of the present subject matter provides a lateral training apparatus comprising a base being attached to a vertical surface, one or more garments each adapted to be worn by a trainee, and at least one member attached to each garment for providing a training vector opposing the motion of the garment in a predetermined range of motion. The members may provide a resistive force that is relatively constant or varying over the predetermined range. The apparatus may further include a mechanical assembly attached to the base for directing each of the members from the base.
A further embodiment of the present subject matter may provide a lateral training apparatus comprising a hinged base having a horizontal portion forming a substantially planar training surface and a vertical portion. The apparatus may further comprise a mechanical assembly attached to the hinged base for directing plural members from the hinged base to one or more garments worn by a trainee. The members provide a training vector opposing the motion of the garment in a predetermined range of motion.
Another embodiment of the present subject matter provides a lateral training apparatus comprising a hinged base having a first portion forming a substantially horizontal planar surface and a second portion forming a substantially vertical planar surface, and a plurality of means for providing training vectors to a trainee. One of the means may be removably attached to the horizontal portion and another of the means may be removably attached to the vertical portion. The vector origin location of each of the means may also be variable in the respective planar surface defined by the first and second portions.
An additional embodiment of the present subject matter provides a lateral training apparatus comprising a base forming a substantially planar vertical surface and a mechanical assembly attached to the base for directing each of one or more members from the base to a garment worn by a trainee. The member provides a training vector opposing the motion of the garment in a predetermined range of motion and the magnitude of each of said training vectors is selectively adjustable by a resistance mechanism.
Yet another embodiment of the present subject matter provides a lateral training system comprising a first hinged base having a first portion forming a first planar surface and a second portion forming a second planar surface, and a plurality of means for providing training vectors to a trainee. The system further includes a second hinged base having a first portion forming a third planar surface and a second portion forming a fourth planar surface, and a plurality of means for providing training vectors to the trainee. Any one of the means may being removably attached to the first or second portions of the first or second bases, and the horizontal components of the training vectors provided by the first and second hinged bases may be applied to the trainee in opposite directions.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.